Sunday, September 20, 2009

A Memory and an Idea of 1987

In my last entry that wasn’t just a photo, I spoke of having writer’s block. I spoke of 3 projects that I needed to see through. I had felt since I could not come up with something new and fresh to make a film about, I should go the easy route and finish one that has already been penciled here and there. That entry was on Thursday night. Things have drastically changed in four days. What is amazing is when I am sleep deprived, I am normally no good in the “creative” department. This weekend was one of the worst for that sleep deprived part. I was fighting a mean Sinus Infection and had not gotten to sleep due to my night gig of shooting High School Football running late and just an overall restlessness late at night. (Probably due to the big ole’ Coke I drank at the game at 9:00pm.) Well, the kids don’t take that under consideration when they wake up so my four hours of sleep I calculated would mean a very unproductive Saturday normally. The house needed cleaning and the kids were ready to help so I started the daunting task slowing a bit after the second room was complete. I thought maybe music would keep me moving. I hit the shuffle on iTunes and managed to get my vast collection of The Boss, Bruce Springsteen jamming. I began vacuuming as “Dancing in the Dark” began to play. With the kids not at my feet, my mind started wandering to time back in the day when his album “Born in the USA,” was soaring the charts. I remember listening to it over and over with my buddy Russ in their big Mobile Caravan coming back from Myrtle Beach and was “going with” his sister, Ellie. I remember how simple the time was back then and how much fun we had. Then I started thinking of other times Russ and I had growing up. Then my son who is infamous for grabbing a remote control and changing the channel on cue turned the television from PBS to A&E who was doing a tribute to Patrick Swayze and were showing “Dirty Dancing.” This sparked more memories of my young adult hood and then a story idea came to my head using all these old memories of The Russell’s and my friendship with them and memories of those late 80’s years. The idea ran me over like a freight train and the next three hours between chasing kids and cleaning house were devoted to jotting down different scenarios and different angles on this small drama/comedy I had conjured up out of shear little glimpses of images, sounds, and memories. Between my long trip to a shooting gig yesterday and the 3 hour down time waiting for the fight to begin had me sitting with my blue pencil and moleskin just hashing out all these unique characters. I did that all day on Sunday and as my daughter drifted off to sleep, I found myself unable to wait for a quiet day by myself to begin writing the script. It was 10:30pm... I had an hour or so before I knew I would have to force myself to quit and go to bed but it didn’t stop me from penning the first three pages of my next “personal project.” I am very excited. Thank you Russell’s, (Russ, Clarence, Margaret, Keira and Ellie.) Thanks Bruce Springsteen and Born in the USA Album. Thanks to Swayze, A & E, and my meddling son who just so happened to change the channel at the absolute perfect time during the absolute perfect thought. This is how films, stories and images are made for me.... Timing and memories.